Good News Friday!

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It has been a great and emotional week for Nasc and clients this week. Two Syrian families that Nasc have been working with for several years were able to welcome additional family members to Ireland under the International Humanitarian Admission Programme (IHAP). Both families are relieved to finally be reunited with their loved ones who flew into Dublin airport mid-week.

We would like to thank the amazing Restoring Family Links Unit at the Irish Red Cross as well as the fantastic team at the International Organisation for Migration for their assistance with travel arrangements. Even after permission to travel to Ireland is obtained, there can be months of multi-agency work to actually secure the safe passage of refugees and their family members to Ireland.

So far, 14 of the second round IHAP applications for 23 family members made with Nasc's assistance have been granted. Through the IHAP we will be able to reunite spouses, siblings, parents and children. It's truly life-changing and in some cases, life-saving, intervention. O, pictured above, is finally being reunited with his two children and his mother who had been living in considerably hardship in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Since the second round of IHAP closed, Nasc have received dozens of inquiries from those hoping to apply for family members. Clients have shared stories of unimaginable tragedy and hardship with us. We strongly urge the government to expand the International Humanitarian Admission Programme and open it on an annual rolling basis.